Mahaffey Theater welcomes new GMHed news offlead

David Rovine has run the 1,799-seat Genesee Theatre in Waukegan, Ill., since 2004.if needed

By JOHN FLEMING, Times Performing Arts Critic
Published August 24, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - The Mahaffey Theater has a new general manager, David Rovine, who will be at the city-owned facility for Sunday's concert by Joe Walsh and start work on Monday.

Rovine, 58, is employed by SMG, which manages the Mahaffey and many other facilities. He has run the 1,799-seat Genesee Theatre in Waukegan, Ill., since 2004.

At Mahaffey, Rovine succeeds Chris Fahlman, who presided over the 2006 reopening of the 2,002-seat theater after a $20-million renovation. Fahlman leaves SMG and Mahaffey at the end of August to pursue other business interests. Also leaving is marketing director Sabrina Anico, who is going to work in a similar capacity for the New World Symphony on Miami Beach.

Rovine has Florida ties, having been marketing director at Gulfstream Park from 1995 until 2004. At the Hallandale Beach thoroughbred racetrack, he was a proponent of turning parimutuel facilities into entertainment complexes and booked rock concerts there on weekends. He also ran the Once Upon a Stage dinner theater in Orlando in the 1970s and '80s.

The Mahaffey has struggled to find its niche in the Tampa Bay area market. "The city just wants to book the theater, to make it a busy, happening place that will bring people downtown," Rovine said.

John Fleming can be reached at 727 893-8716 or fleming@sptimes.com

[Last modified August 23, 2007, 23:35:28]